Blacktown City Away, 3pm Sunday 18th March 2019

Blacktown City where formed as Toongabbie FC in 1953 and changed their name to Blacktown in 1979. They did, like Croatia play in the old NSL but dropped out in 1990. They play out of Lily Homes Stadium in Seven Hills.

Having missed the first game of the season due to a friend’s wedding in Thailand I was eager to get to Seven Hills despite the fact I had only flown into Sydney that day. To be honest I was surprised the game was going ahead given the amount of rain that was falling when I landed. I headed home, got a few hours sleep and then to the surprise of my wife headed to the bus stop on Enmore Road to get to Newtown station. The trains I found were not running for the usual reasons and I jumped the replacement bus to central and got on the train to Seven Hills.

Today's line ups

By the time that I got to Seven Hills the rain had subsided enough that I no longer needed to use the umbrella as much. The ground is around a ten minute walk from the station and I managed to just about make the kick off. The $15 entrance fee is around the average in this league and the same we charge at King Tom.

The Sydney Croatia faithful away following were there in good numbers despite the weather and could be heard on the way into the ground and were located in the far corner of the ground. The pitch is synthetic and held up well against the rain. There is a covered grandstand on the far side with some boxes and the side we were on had some aluminium benches that went the whole length of the pitch. The far end of the ground is a small hill covered in shrubs with a scoreboard. Can I add that the scoreboard actually works, unlike the one at King Tom which has been out of action for as long as I can remember! (Although I am informed we are getting a new one) The other end of the ground houses the club and bar. It is one of the better grounds in the league in my opinion.

I headed to stand with the usual suspects while the cheeky terrace youth of the SUS were a little way down creating some noise, the fence adorned with the usual flags and colour. That really is what makes football so much better at this level than the A-League, everybody knows each other and the passion that they have is akin to watching Liverpool, where I grew up.

The game itself started at pace but the greasy pitch made for some misplaced passes in the early stages from both teams. Chances were few and far between in the early stages although a glaring Blacktown miss from 6 yards out with the goal gaping was blazed over the bar. Croatia got a foothold into the game after this point and started to ping the ball around nicely without creating a great deal. As the game headed towards half time I was quietly confident as apart from that early gift we gave away nothing at the back with veteran number 6 Markovic in stellar form.

Match action

As the half time whistle sounded a good number of us headed to the kiosk for some light refreshments. It has to be said that the selection of booze is quite extensive - wine and spirits are available as well as beer. The staple of the Croatia support is VB, and at $5 who can complain?! The only complaint would be that they did not seem to anticipate our numbers and had to keep getting more six packs from the club. I can’t comment on the food as I only had Thai Baht left and $10 in my wallet which went on beer. Not a bad kiosk all in all.

Beer queue at the kiosk

The second half kicked off in better weather and Croatia looked the more dangerous. As the 10 minute mark came, Croatia poured forward and were awarded a free kick 5 yards outside the box when the dangerous Pertakis was felled in an inviting position. Up step Matt Sim who sent the Croatia supporters into raptures by curling the ball into the top corner. Cue chants of CRO-ART-ZIA ! It was a great strike to break the deadlock in a tight game and the singing would continue for some time afterwards.

The game became a bit of a midfield battle after that with few real scoring chances created by either side. As the game headed towards its conclusion Blacktown pushed more men forward in search of the equalizer and Croatia should have finished them off on the break but could not. Then a snapshot from 30 yards was tipped onto the bar by Manos who had a superb game in the sticks for Croatia. A slew of corners came and went for Blacktown with Croatia seeing out the game out as 1-0 winners.

The players came over and songs were sung as hands were shook between supporters and players. It was a great result given the players we have out and lost in the pre season. Bring on Wollongong next Sunday! Sydney Croatia ole ole ole…..